The Victoria Flying Club proudly offers a comprehensive and professional float plane endorsement program. With over sixty five years of aviation history in the Victoria area, VFC is well-established as a top flight training institution, situated in one of the most beautiful areas of Canada.

Our goal is to instill our students with the ability to make safe and sound decisions in addition to solid floatplane flying skills. We achieve this by combining practical "real world" floatplane training with a comprehensive 4 hour classroom seminar.

We offer a variety of services in addition to the seaplane endorsement. You may be interested in more advanced training for a professional floatplane career or to meet insurance requirements for your own private aircraft. Maybe you would just like to try flying a floatplane while getting in some sightseeing. We will tailor your training to meet your needs.

For more information about our float rating program, please contact us. Or, to learn more about The Victoria Flying Club, please visit our main website.

Rates

These are our current 2013 rates;

Aircraft Rate Dual:

$255/hr

Pre/Post Flight Ground Briefing

$55/hr

Seminar and Training Manual:

$100

Transport Canada Endorsement Fee:

$30

All prices Canadian $

Please look around our site, if you have any questions please contact us.

Here's a little Seaplane History

The allure of the seaplane began before there were any seaplanes. In the early 1900's groups of engineers were working toward the world's first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers managed to pull it off first on December 17, 1903. Many subsequent flights and designs of aircraft followed in the wake of their historic accomplishment.

Being that the earth's surface is more than 70% covered in water, almost immediately (if not before) the race to build the first seaplane was met. By 1910 a frenchman named Henri Fabre completed the first seaplane flight in Martigues France in his design called "Le Canard" (the duck) pictured here. This was followed closely by designs from familiar aviation names like Curtiss and Boeing. Larger and larger flying boats were built and it seemed, for a time, that the seaplane was destined to become the world's preferred mode of transport. By the late 1930's advancing engineering technology and the proliferation of land based airstrips rang the death knell for transatlantic seaplane operators.

The seaplane then took on a new role. In Canada, access to most communities was only possible by floatplane. Initially these planes were converted landplanes with floats attached. It was in the late 1940's that deHavilland Canada came up with the first true bush plane, the DHC-2 Beaver. It was followed by the Otter and the Twin Otter. It is widely accepted that these aircraft are the best floatplanes ever built and are a source of great pride for Canadians.

SEMINARS

To register for our next Seaplane Groundschool, please call The Victoria Flying Club at 250-656-2833